USPTO Patents Application 10695513

AMENDMENTS TO THE CLAIMS

1 . (Currently Amended) A method for scheduling mobile station uplink transmissions
by a base station comprising steps of:

receiving scheduling information from at least one mobile station of a plurality of
mobile stations, wherein the scheduling information comprises at least one of a queue
status and a power status of the at least one mobile station;

selecting a mobile station of the plurality of mobile stations and determining an
uplink channel scheduling assignment for the selected mobile station using at least one of
the scheduling information and a base station interference metric and a link quality
corresponding to the selected mobile station; and

transmitting the uplink channel scheduling assignment to the selected mobile
station, wherein the uplink channel scheduling assignment comprises a maximum traffic
channel to control channel power margin target ratio that the mobile station is allowed to
use in a su b sequent reverse link transmission .

2. (Original) The method of claim 1, wherein the scheduling information is received via
a reverse link control channel.

3. (Original) The method of claim 1, wherein the power status corresponds to a power
level of a Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH).

4. (Original) The method of claim 1, wherein the power status is based on a difference
between a Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH) power level and a maximum
power level supported by the mobile station.

5. (Original) The method of claim 1, wherein the queue status corresponds to a size of a
data queue.

6. (Original) The method of claim 5, wherein the queue status further indicates a size of
a layer 3 signaling queue.

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7. (Original) The method of claim 5, wherein the queue status further indicates that a
layer 3 signaling queue is non-empty.

8. (Original) The method of claim 1, further comprising conveying base station
interference information to the selected mobile station via a forward link control channel.

9. (Original) The method of claim 1, wherein the link quality is the link quality of an
uplink channel from the selected mobile station.

10. (Original) The method of claim 1, wherein the link quality is the link quality of a
downlink channel from a base station to the selected mobile station.

1 1 . (Currently Amended) A method for scheduling a mobile station transmission
comprising:

scheduling, by a base station of a plurality of base stations, a mobile station of a
plurality of mobile stations for a transmission interval based on scheduling information
received from each mobile station of the plurality of mobile stations and further based on
a link quality metric;

conveying base station interference information to the selected mobile station via
a forward link control channel;

receiving, by the base station from the scheduled mobile station, a first
transmission of data, which transmission of data is conveyed by the mobile station during
the transmission interval and comprises transport format and resource-related
information (TFRI);

decoding the first transmission of the data;

when the first transmission of the data is not successfully decoded, receiving, by
the base station, communications from the scheduled mobile station corresponding to at
least one retransmission of the data;

combining, by the base station, each of the at least one retransmission of the data
with the previously received data to produce combined data until the first to occur of a
successful decoding of the combined data or a flushing of a Hybrid Automatic Repeat
Request (H-ARQ) buffer;

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when one of the first transmission of data and the combined data is successfully
decoded, conveying an acknowledgment to the mobile station; and

in response to conveying the acknowledgment, flushing the H-ARQ buffer.

12. (Original) The method of claim 11, wherein flushing the Hybrid Automatic Repeat
Request (H-ARQ) buffer comprises in response to conveying the acknowledgment,
receiving an instruction to flush the H-ARQ buffer and flushing the buffer.

13. (Original) The method of claim 11, wherein the transport format and resource-
related information (TFRI) is received via a reverse link control channel.

14. (Original) The method of claim 11, further comprising, when the combined data is
not successfully decoded prior to an expiration of a timer, flushing the Hybrid Automatic
Repeat Request (H-ARQ) buffer.

15. (Original) The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a reverse link power control metric;

comparing the reverse link power control metric to an inner loop power control
setpoint; and

flushing the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (H-ARQ) buffer when the reverse
link power control metric compares unfavorably with the inner loop power control
setpoint.

16. (Original) The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a new data indicator; and

flushing the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (H-ARQ) buffer based on a state
of the received data indicator.

17. (Original) The method of claim 11, wherein the scheduling information is received
via a first reverse link control channel and the transport format and resource-related
information (TFRI) is received via a second reverse link control channel.

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18. (Original) The method of claim 11, wherein the scheduling information is received
via a first reverse link control channel and the transport format and resource-related
information (TFRI) is blindly detected by a receiving base station.

19. (Original) The method of claim 11, wherein the scheduling information comprises
power status and queue status information.

20. (Original) The method of claim 19, wherein the power status corresponds to a power
level of a Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH)

21. (Original) The method of claim 19, wherein the power status is based on a
difference between a Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH) power level and the
maximum power level supported by the mobile station.

22. (Original) The method of claim 19, wherein the queue status corresponds to a size of
a data queue.

23. (Original) The method of claim 22, wherein the queue status further indicates a size
of a layer 3 signaling queue.

24. (Original) The method of claim 22, wherein the queue status further indicates that a
layer 3 signaling queue is non-empty.

25. (Original) The method of claim 11, further comprising conveying base station
interference information to the selected mobile station via a forward link control channel.

26. (Original) The method of claim 25, further comprising mapping one or more sub-
frames of the transmission interval to associated transport format and resource-related
information (TFRI).

27. (Original) The method of claim 25, further comprising determining a maximum
Enhanced Uplink Dedicated Transport Channel (EUDCH) to Dedicated Physical Control

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Channel (DPCCH) (DPPCH) power ratio for the mobile station based on base station
interference information.

28. (Original) The method of claim 11, wherein scheduling comprises informing the
mobile station of a number of sub-frames on which the mobile station may transmit and a
location of the sub-frames in the transmission interval.

29. (Currently Amended) A method for transmitting data by a mobile station
comprising steps of:

receiving, at the mobile station, interference information associated wit h, and
conveyed to the mobile station by, a base station;

determining, by the mobile station, transport format and resource-related
information (TFRI) based on the received interference information;

transmitting data in a first reverse link channel; and

transmitting the TFRI in a second reverse link channel, wherein the TFRI can be
used to demodulate and decode the transmitted data.

30. (Original) The method of claim 29, wherein the transport format and resource-
related information (TFRI) is transmitted via a second reverse link control channel.

31. (Previously Presented) The method of claim 29, wherein receiving comprises
receiving a scheduling assignment that comprises the interference information associated
with a base station.

32. (Original) The method of claim 31, wherein receiving a scheduling assignment
comprises receiving a plurality of scheduling assignments from a plurality of base
stations, wherein each scheduling assignment of the plurality of scheduling assignments
is associated with interference information, and wherein the method further comprises
choosing a scheduling assignment of the plurality of scheduling assignments based on the
associated interference information.

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33. (Original) The method of claim 32, wherein the interference information associated
with each scheduling assignment comprises transport format and resource-related
information (TFRI).

34. (Original) The method of claim 32, further comprising determining the
corresponding transport format and resource-related information (TFRI) transmitted in
the second reverse link channel based on the TFRI of only one base station of the
plurality of base stations.

35. (Original) The method of claim 31, wherein the scheduling assignment is received
via a forward link control channel.

36. (Previously Presented) The method of claim 29, wherein receiving comprises
receiving interference information from a plurality of base stations and wherein
determining comprises determining the corresponding transport format and resource-
related information (TFRI) transmitted in the second reverse link channel based on
interference information of only one base station of the plurality of base stations.

37. (Original) The method of claim 36, wherein determining comprises determining the
transport format and resource-related information (TFRI) based on a base station with a
largest Enhanced Uplink Dedicated Transport Channel (EUDCH) to Dedicated Physical
Control Channel (DPCCH) (DPPCH) power ratio.

38. (Original) The method of claim 29 wherein the first reverse link channel and the
second reverse link channel are time multiplexed on a same physical control channel
such that, in a given transmission interval, either a first reverse link channel ten (10)
millisecond (ms) frame format is used or a second reverse link channel two (2)
millisecond (ms) frame format is used.

39. (Original) The method of claim 38, wherein when there is not a scheduled
transmission interval then the first reverse link channel ten (10) millisecond (ms) frame

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format is used and when there is a scheduled transmission interval then the second
reverse link channel two (2) millisecond (ms) frame format is used.

40. (Original) The method of claim 29, wherein the second reverse link channel has a
first part and a second part, wherein the second part can be decoded separate from the
first part, and wherein the first part comprises block size and modulation and coding
information and the second part comprises Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (H-ARQ)
and Incremental Redundancy version information.

41 . (Original) A method for controlling communications with a mobile station by a base
station comprising steps of:

storing, by the base station, traffic data from the mobile station in a traffic data

buffer;

determining a link quality metric at the base station;
comparing the link quality metric to a threshold; and

when the link quality metric compares unfavorably with the threshold, flushing
the traffic data buffer.

42. (Original) The method of claim 41, wherein the link quality metric comprises a
reverse link power control metric and wherein comparing comprises comparing the
reverse link power control metric to an inner loop power control setpoint.

43. (Original) The method of claim 42, wherein the threshold comprises a first threshold
and wherein the link quality metric compares unfavorably with a threshold when a ratio
of the reverse link power control metric to an inner loop power control setpoint exceeds a
second threshold.

44. (Original) The method of claim 43, wherein the link quality metric is computed
based on a reverse link pilot signal.

45. (Original) A method for controlling communications with a mobile station by a base
station comprising steps of:

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storing, by the base station, traffic data from the mobile station in a traffic data

buffer;

transmitting, by the base station, first control data to the mobile station on a

downlink control channel;

upon transmitting the first control data, starting, by the base station, a timer; and
when a predetermined period of time expires prior to receiving second control

data from the mobile station on an uplink control channel, flushing the traffic data buffer.

46. (Original) A method for controlling communications with a mobile station by a base
station comprising steps of:

determining, by the base station, a link quality metric at the base station;
comparing, by the base station, the link quality metric to a threshold; and
when the link quality metric compares unfavorably with the threshold,
deallocating, by the base station, demodulation resources allocated to a first uplink
control channel associated with the mobile station while maintaining allocation of
demodulation resources associated with a second uplink control channel that is
associated with the mobile station.

47. (Original) The method of claim 46, wherein the link quality metric comprises a
reverse link power control metric and wherein comparing comprises comparing the
reverse link power control metric to an inner loop power control setpoint.

48. (Original) The method of claim 47, wherein the threshold comprises a first threshold
and wherein the link quality metric compares unfavorably with a threshold when a ratio
of the reverse link power control metric to an inner loop power control setpoint exceeds a
second threshold.

49. (Original) The method of claim 48, wherein the link quality metric is computed
based on a reverse link pilot signal.

50. (Original) A method for controlling communications with a mobile station by a base
station comprising steps of:

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transmitting, by the base station, first control data to the mobile station on a
downlink control channel;

upon transmitting the first control data, starting, by the base station, a timer; and
when a predetermined period of time expires prior to receiving second control
data from the mobile station on an uplink control channel, deallocating, by the base
station, demodulation resources allocated to a first uplink control channel associated with
the mobile station while maintaining allocation of demodulation resources associated
with a second uplink control channel that is associated with the mobile station.

51-52. (Canceled)

53. (New) The method of claim 46, wherein each of the demodulation resources
allocated to a first uplink control channel and the demodulation resources associated with
a second uplink control channel demodulation resource comprises a RAKE finger.

54. (New) The method of claim 50, wherein each of the demodulation resources
allocated to a first uplink control channel and the demodulation resources associated with
a second uplink control channel demodulation resource comprises a RAKE finger.

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